October Daye
October "Toby" Christine Daye 'is the main protagonist of the titular October Daye series. Half-Dochas Sidhe, half-human, though the balance is always shifting, she is the second-born daughter of Amandine and a human man, though in Faerie she is recognised as the daughter of Simon Torquill and the youngest sister of August Torquill. Biography / Background October "Toby" Daye is a former street kid and believed herself to be half-Daoine Sidhe who's practically made a career out of running away from things. She was raised in the Summerlands, last of the true fae realms, only to flee to the mortal world when she was a teenager, looking for a life she could call her own. For a while, it looked like she might even succeed. She found a place in the service of a local Duke, earned her position as a knight errant, fell in love, and thought the running was over. — She was wrong. All too soon, all she wanted was the opportunity to run away from everything and fade into obscurity. Unfortunately for Toby, life is rarely simple for changelings, and her own talent for complicating things makes it impossible for her to disappear into the shadows. It probably doesn't help that she attracts trouble the way that candles attract moths, or that she's somehow managed to catch the eye of some of the most powerful people in the Kingdom of the Mists. Backstory ✥ Amandine is October Daye's mother by a human Irish accountant. She was initially purely a half-and-half changeling, though Amandine had slowly inched her to human, fearing that she would lose her the same way she lost her firstborn daughter August. When Toby was seven, Sylvester Torquill, along with others, came to give Toby the Changeling's Choice (though the Luidaeg had played a part in drawing Sylvester's attention to what Amandine was slowly doing). She ran to her mother saying she was just like her. They were both whisked away to the Summerlands, where Toby was raised. Amandine slowly lost her grip on reality. Toby was 25 when she ran away from her mother's houehold in the Summerlands, she could barely pass for sixteen. She starved in alleyways, fled from Kelpies, and ran from the human police. Devin found her just as she reach the end of her rope. He took her to Home, fed her, and told her she'd never have to go back. He used "little favors" that turned into bigger assignments. He would visit her room at night. She knew couldn’t trust him, that he’d use her, and she also knew he wouldn’t turn her away. Home was where they didn’t care about your differences, where you could carve out a spot for yourself. ''Rosemary and Rue, ch. 6, p. 33 Toby eventually was knighted for her services (under Evening's recommendation) to Sylvester for finding the false Queen's new knowe, an act that drove the Queen into hating her. She eventually entered a relationship with a human and gave birth to Gillian, whom Rayseline once played with. Simon had eventually turned on Sylvester and under Evening's instruction, kidnapped Rayseline and Luna. Though Toby tried to tail Simon and his accomplice Oleander, she is eventually discovered and forcibly turned into a koi fish. Although Simon did it to save her life, Toby lost 14 years of her mortal life and by the time she broke free of the enchantment, both Gillian and Cliff wanted nothing to do with her and she gave up on her life. Tybalt and occasionally Mitch bump into her in the six months she had reintegrated into society. When Evening was "murdered", Toby was geased into investigating her death. This forced her to jump back into Faerie, eventually reuniting with Devin, her friends from Home (including finding new ones in Dare and Manuel), Sylvester and Luna, Connor. When it was revealed Devin attempted to murder Evening and was actively sending out threats to kill her, she confronts him at Home. Devin only manages to kill Dare before he himself is murdered by Manuel. By this time, Sylvester reinstates her as an active knight under his service. Toby is sent to Tamed Lightning with Quentin to investigate a series of murders. She is mostly confused as to why the victims didn't retain any memories leading up to their death until she summons the night-haunts, whom confirm that their souls had been absent from their bodies. Toby manages to find the culprit - Gordan, who used April O'Leary as her murder weapon - and resolves the investigation. Toby investigates the disappearances of Stacy's kids, along with a handful of the Dreaming Cats Court and Quentin's human girlfriend. Around this time, May appears into her life. It is revealed through Lily and eventually Luna that Blind Michael was responsible for them. Toby goes into Blind Michael's lands, realizing that Blind Michael intends on turning them into his newest Riders, and stages a daring rescue. Although she is successful, she is forced to kill Blind Michael by Luna with help from Acacia. When Lily is poisoned, Toby, as the new Countess of Goldengreen, tries to hunt down the killer, only to realize that Oleander was the one responsible. At this point, Luna is also revealed to be poisoned, and the Cait Sidhe are even stricken with it. Suspicions immediately turn on Toby, with both Manuel and Rayseline reinforcing them, and in the chaos Toby is elf-shot. Amandine changes the balance of her blood closer to Fae and saves May from dying when the False Queen imprisons her in her iron jail for attempted murder (and trying to use Blind Michael's death against her) until Connor, Tybalt and Quentin rescue her, with Walther curing her poisoning. She discovers that Rayseline was trying to kill her mother, with Manuel unaware that salting the roses would kill her. Toby succeeds in stopping Rayseline from killing Sylvester, although Oleander manages to kill Manuel and in response is fatally injured by Raysel. After the incident, the Luidaeg explains that Toby is Dochas Sidhe. At this point, High King Sollys pardons Toby for killing Blind Michael. When Rayseline kidnaps Duchess Lorden's sons, Toby begins an investigation. Her old contact from home Bucer confirms Rayseline was responsible, and Toby discovers that she used a Selkie's skin to get to them, an act that was fatal to the Selkie as she was elf-shot in the process. Toby loses her composure when Gillian is kidnapped by Raysel. Although she manages to rescue them and discovers that Dugan Harrow was responsible, Gillian is elf-shot, forcing Toby to shift her blood to human, and Connor is fatally wounded. She, along with Dianda, manage to expose Dugan as the man who was responsible, and prevent a war. This sends Toby into a spiral, and in the process she is almost killed by a group of goblin-fruit addicted changelings until Tybalt rescues her. She frequently has nightmares of Gillian, wondering if she should've forced her into a life of immortality instead of losing her completely, and this only worsens when Etienne hires her to look for his own changeling daughter, something that Tybalt remarks may be too soon for her to handle. Although she willingly investigates, despite the prospect of having to kill Chelsea despite the fact that Chelsea is aware that she is Tuatha de Dannan, she realises the seriousness of the situation when Chelsea is discovered to be an overpowered changeling and that the Court of the Dreaming Cats is facing an insurrection. May and Tybalt manage to snap Toby out of her depression, and despite being eviscerated twice by Samson (though Li Qin's magic backlashed against her favour), Toby manages to rescue Chelsea from Duchess Riordan's clutches in Annwn (indirectly freeing August from Annwn in the process) and successfully shifts Chelsea to a pureblood. Toby and Tybalt have already settled into a relationship, but as the rise in changeling fatalities due to goblin-fruit rise, she confronts the Queen of the Mists, who confirms she's peddling goblin-fruit, and the Queen uses Toby's act of disrespect to banish her. After the Luidaeg points her to the direction of Dianda, who knew King Gilad, Toby realises that the Queen of the Mists was a pretender to the throne - and Arden was the true heir to King Gilad. After a few failed attempts to get Arden to reclaim her birthright, even at the handicap of unconsciously shifting her to a merlin due to the false Queen's attempt to get her addicted to goblin-fruit, Toby succeeds despite Dianda's imprisonment and Nolan's abduction. She uses the hope chest to shift herself further to her fae nature than before, then forcibly removes the Siren blood out of the false Queen to stop her from manipulating her allies against her. For a while, Toby was able to relax now that Arden was recognised as the Queen, but Simon Torquill's return forces her to confront Sylvester about secrets he kept from Toby - especially that Simon was Amandine's husband - the main reason that Simon chose to turn her into a fish instead of killing her - and the existence of August, her long lost sister. After the Luidaeg was almost murdered - if not for Toby's intervention, and through Simon's subtle messages, Toby figures out that Evening - the woman who forced her back to Faerie, was still alive, ands actually the Firstborn of the Daoine Sidhe who was responsible for Raysel and Luna's kidnapping, the massacre of the Roane, the Luidaeg becoming what she was and Simon having to turn her into a fish. Eventually Toby, with the help of Simon and the Luidaeg, is able to get Evening elf-shot. By the end of this, her relationship with Sylvester and Luna suffered, but Tybalt proposes to Toby. As Toby reports to Arden in regards to the Mauthe Doog attack, Madden is elf-shot by a sniper from Silences. Arden tries to run from her responsibilities, but Toby forces her back into it. In response, Arden spitefully assigns Toby as her diplomat and has her sent to Silences to try and talk King Rhys and the False Queen - who is now unstable because of Toby's forced rebalancing of her blood. In the process, she discovers Walther's heritage as a member of the Silences royal family, and helps reverse-engineer a cure for elf-shot. The False Queen and King Rhys are elf-shot, and the Silences royal family are restored. Nearly six weeks after the incident at Silences, Arden forces Toby to accompany her and help Walther wake Madden and Nolan up before High King Aethlin realises that he left a loophole. She is only able to wake Madden up before he arrives. When High King Aethlin protests Arden's actions, Toby calls him out on it, even going as far to remind him that the False Queen and King Rhys wouldn't have been on the throne if he had physically been there. As punishment, and as a way to smuggle Quentin into the conclave, High King Aethlin orders Toby to attend and clarifies his instructions to using the elf-shot cure until it is approved. During the conclave, Toby meets most of the monarchy in the Westlands, and is already targeted with suspicion over King Antonio's murder. Things only get worse when Dianda is elf-shot, and King Antonio's murder - who's real target was Tybalt - assaults and almosts kills Toby. By the time the conclave is almost halfway through, the murderer, revealed to be Minna, manages to gravely wound Tybalt. She realises that the monarchy of Highmountain used her sister as a bargaining chip to clear away the people they thought would drag Faerie down, and Minna's fate is further sealed when she successfully murders Kabos in a rage. Even though Toby assured her that Verona wouldn't get away with murder by proxy, the attempted murder of Madden and getting Quentin and Walther elf-shot, Minna knows that her life was forfeit the moment she murdered King Antonio, and throws herself, Verona and Toby out of the window at the highest point of Arden's knowe. Although Verona and Minna are killed instantly, Toby barely survives. Thanks to Toby's presence, the cure for elf-shot is approved, but High King Aethlin realises that Toby's recklessness is close to politically destabilising all of Faerie (Blind Michael's death, the False Queen and False King being toppled out of their thrones, witnessing Kabos and Verona's murders). High Queen Maida manages to spare her from whatever fate that King Aethlin has in mind by offering the Sollys knowe in Toronto as a site for their wedding. Toby manages to find some time to relax until Amandine finally returns to her life after a lengthy absence, demanding that Toby finds August despite insulting her about her talent. Even though Toby predictably refuses, and even considers finding August on her own terms, Amandine forces Tybalt and Jasmine to shapeshift against their will and holds them as collateral. This forces Toby to convince Sylvester to wake Simon from his slumber, going as far as to using Rayseline as a bargaining chip. She has a rough time trying to forgive Simon, though she knows that Simon was the only Torquill who never lied to her - as Sylvester had lied to her about Amandine's marriage to Simon, Luna had lied about her heritage and Rayseline almost killed her and Gillian. Through this, she learned that the Luidaeg resented Simon for abandoning Amandine when August disappeared, Simon had history with a Pixie colony outside of Amandine's tower, and he had a strange "friendship" with Duchess Riordan. She also manages to rescue Officer Thornton, the police officer who had tailed her during her hunt for Chelsea, although his residence in Annwn had almost destroyed his mind. Toby and Simon succeed in finding August, but August, being under the Luidaeg's geas, is unable to recognise Simon and assaulted Toby, using her own magic to cripple Toby's magic and essentially make her a merlin. Using Toby's trail, August finds her way to Toby's house to hideout, subduing Quentin with illusionary ropes, but Toby manages to crack open August's skull and knock her out long enough till Simon and Toby can restrain her. After freeing Quentin, they take August back to the Luidaeg, with her cursing the three of them for kidnapping her and screaming that Simon would seek revenge on them for her actions. Toby, knowing that August had no idea he was in front of her and was actively rejecting him, understood how Simon felt, knowing that Gillian rejected her. The Luidaeg is unable to revert August back to normal, and refuses to let Toby trade her way home for August's. Simon, despite Evening's damage being completely reverted, offers to sacrifice his own way home to give August's back, but this reverts him back to his evil self. Toby and Quentin escort August back to Amandine, who selfishly tries to exploit a loophole in how long she keeps Tybalt and Jasmine. Already worn out from August's assault, losing Simon again and Amandine's selfishness, Toby threatens her own mother. August, surprisingly does a heroic act and convinces Amandine to release her prisoners. Although Amandine relents, satisfied that her own daughter was back, Amandine abandons Toby completely. Though at the cost of her relationship with Sylvester and having to reuse the hope chest, Toby manages to revert Tybalt back to his human form the same way Jin did with Jasmine. After a hostile encounter with August that should've been her apology for Amandine's actions, Toby remarks that she doesn't feel safe with Simon on the loose. Despite the ordeal, Toby and Quentin help April and Li Qin restore the victims of the ALH murders back to life. Tybalt however suffers trauma from his experience with Amandine and he withdraws from Toby, albeit a little roughly. Although Toby is still weary and experiencing nightmares about his withdrawal, she was much stronger compared to when she lost Colin and Gillian. This however is tested when Toby finds out from Cliff and Miranda that Gillian had been kidnapped again, and that they are accusing her of kidnapping despite herself staying away from Gillian to protect her from experiencing anything remotely Fae. Toby, Quentin and May trace Gillian's tracks, discovering Miranda true identity of Janet, Amandine's mother and the woman who broke Maeve's Hunt, and discovering that that False Queen had been awakened from her slumber with help from Dugan and a desperate changeling named Jocelyn, and had kidnapped Gillian. After reconciling with Tybalt, who saves her from a starved and feral Kennis, Toby tracks Gillian down back to the False Queen's knowe, but is too late to stop her from being elf-shot. While Tybalt takes Gillian to the Luidaeg, Toby grapples with the False Queen and Jocelyn, where she learns of Jocelyn's parentage, and is outnumbered until Tybalt returns, sicking Kennis on the False Queen, and almost killing Jocelyn had Toby not intervened. Sylvester is called into the scene, where he reinforces that he still cares for Toby despite everything, and she and Tybalt go to the Luidaeg, where it was revealed that she had to turn Gillian into a Selkie to save her life. She and Gillian manage to reconcile enough the point where they're in speaking terms, and Gillian points out that Dugan had been hanging out with Jocelyn - unaware that he was the one who grabbed her. Tybalt and Toby retreat to Muir Woods, where they reveal to Quentin that Gillian is Fae again. Unaware that Dugan had been posing as one of Arden's staff, he reveals himself mistakenly under the assumption that Toby changed Gillian's blood and grabs Nolan. By the time Toby manages to track him down, he has Nolan at knifepoint, and is successful at talking him down after she reveals that it was the Luidaeg who saved her. Finally realising that she can't help the False Queen, Dugan releases Nolan, but not before attempting suicide by slashing his throat. After reconciling with Cliff, Toby and Tybalt go to Silences to confirm that King Rhys is still sleeping, and for Tybalt to request for Ginerva to take his place as the Dreaming Cats regent until he recovers long enough to abdicate the throne to Raj. About *spent 14 years and 2 days as a fish in the Tea Gardens, didn't understand absence of Pixies on Moving Day Abilities, Powers, Skills * Glamour * Blood Magic * innate knowledge of the fae races inherited from her mother—can just breath in their essence (example: pixie sweat glitter) * Illusions are easier for Toby when she's angry, though nothing else works that way.Rosemary and Rue, Ch. 2 * Enhanced ability to smell magic * Perfect scent identification - even if she's never smelled it before or doesn't know the name of the source (e.g. specific types of flower). Speculates in the Winter Long that it has to do with her race's ability to recognize magic * Advanced healing - as Dochas Sidhe, Toby's healing is remarkably fast, having survived being stabbed in the chest and a great fall from Arden's knowe that should've outright killed her the way it killed Queen Verona of Highmountain and her servant Minna In the series ''Through This House'' In Through This House, Toby reclaims the knowe of Goldengreen with the help of Quentin, May, and Danny. After an initial rejection, Toby negotiates with the knowe and its resident pixies to allow her friends from the Japanese Tea Gardens to stay there as well. No Sooner Met In No Sooner Met, Tybalt and Toby go to Cat on the Rafters for their first official date. They survive an attempted poisoning over dessert, and Toby makes cookies for Tybalt to make up for the disruption. Appearance * slightly pointed ears (sharpening with every shift of her blood) * fog gray eyes * highly arched eyebrows that give a constant look of surprise * sharp features * brown hair (trending to blonde after shift in blood) Occupations, Title, Position, etc * Safeway ** Coworkers: Juan ** Manager: Pete Sidekicks *Quentin *May Daye Team Toby Changeling Childhood Friends * '''Kerry — half Hob, Melly's daughter * Julie — half Cait Sidhe, former friend * Stacy Brown — weak-blooded Stacy, Toby's best friend and Mitch's eventual wife. * Mitch Brown — Nixie/Hob, mixed with human made him large, though Hobs are short Pets * Pet half-Siamese cats —Cagney and Lacey — spies for Tybalt * Pet Rose Goblin — Spike Possessions * Iron Knife, formerly Acacia's * Dare's knife: Dare left Toby a knife.A Local Habitation, ch. 3 * Cars: ** Lemon yellow 1974 VW Bug replacing her scrapped car. Homes / Habitats / Places of Attachment * Summerlands * Home — place for homeless Changelings * Duchy of Shadowed Hills * Goldengreen *apartment **My apartment isn't in the best neighborhood, but it suits my needs. The roof doesn't leak, the managers aren't nosy, and my rent includes a spot in the attached parking garage. **ground-floor unit that has an outside door **rent-controlledRosemary and Rue, Ch. 3 *House owned by Sylvester, occupied with May Daye and Quentin Character Connections To expand the table, in Edit–Visual mode, right-press on a Row of the table or Column (Control-press on a Mac)—choose add Row or Column. Toby's Life View ✥ "Home was where they didn’t care what color your eyes were, or that you cried when the sun came up, or that your hair was brown like your father’s when the Daoine Sidhe are supposed to be brightly colored and fair. Home was willing to have me, and I knew I could earn myself a life there, if I was fast, clever, and heartless. I could earn my own way." Rosemary and Rue, ch. 6, p. 33, ✥ "In the end, there's never a sanctuary. You run until there's nowhere left to run to, and then you fight, and then you die, and then it's over. That's how the world works, and if there's a way to change that, I hope someone's eventually planning to let me know." ~ Late Eclipses, p. 203 Quotes : “You should have screamed by now. It doesn't taste as good when you don't scream. Why won't you scream for me?" "Sorry, but we only serve diet agony here.” — October Daye, Rosemary and Rue. : “Pointy-eared bitch . . .” — “Actually, I’m a pointy-eared slut. Only purebloods get to be bitches.” — Redcap & Toby,Rosemary and Rue, ch. 14 : I’ve never liked being looked at like I was a hero. I always wind up letting someone down. Sometimes I get lucky. Sometimes the only person who gets hurt is me.Rosemary and Rue, ch. 19 Book References See Also * Changeling * Daoine Sidhe * Tybalt * Amandine * Lily * Oleander de Merelands * Sylvester Torquill * Connor O'Dell * Quentin * Simon Torquill * ~~ * List of October Daye books * Faeries * List of Fae Types * Firstborn * List of Firstborn * List of Faerie Kingdoms, Duchys, Realms * Big Three * Faerie External References Toby-verse Refs: * Seanan McGuire: The Toby Daye FAQ ~ Author's site * Seanan McGuire: Fairy Tale Survival FAQ ~ Author's site * October Daye series - Urban Fantasy Wiki - Series information page * Fang-tastic Fiction: Seanan McGuire: OCTOBER DAYE Series - summary of entire series including world-building. * October Daye Series ~ Shelfari (character lists, setting, glossaries, quotes, etc.) * Carpewiki - October Daye Series ~ Wiki * Literature/October Daye - Television Tropes & Idioms * Galavanting Girl Books: Breakdown of a Heroine - October Daye Gallery 8 The Winter Long- October Daye 3. Late Eclipses (October Daye A Local Habitation (October Daye An Artificial Night (October Daye The Winter Long (October Daye Chimes at Midnight (October Daye Ashes of Honor (October Daye Rosemary and Rue (October Daye Category:Characters Category:Changelings